Geological Disposal of High Level Radioactive Waste - The Relationship between Engineered and Natural Barriers

Dear Colleagues,

The major objective of this Special Issue is to examine the interdependencies between the natural host rock barrier that surrounds a high level waste repository and the engineered barriers that protect the waste within it. A significant challenge in engineering barrier design is predicting the long-term behaviour of the bentonite, or other sealing material, at the interface between the barrier and the geosphere and at the interface between the barrier and the waste canister. The repository presents extreme environmental conditions alongside a requirement for understanding barrier material behaviour over very long, million-year, timescales. Over such times-scales, conditions at the interfaces between barriers will change. For example, freshwater ingress may occur due to glacial melting, high pH groundwater may result from cement leaching in remote parts of the repository, and microbial populations may evolve to utilise energy derived from the waste.

This Special Issue aims to provide an outlet for rapid, widely accessible publication of peer-reviewed studies that explore the behaviour of engineered barriers over time subject to changing environmental conditions within the host rock and waste packages. Such changes may include temperature variations, pH, fluid geochemistry, gas liberation, and biological mediation of these changes. Research submissions that comprise laboratory experiments, field trials and/or model development are welcomed.

Prof. Rebecca Lunn
Prof. Simon Harley
Dr. Simon Norris
Guest Editors

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